Owari Yumeki Golden Day.

Unfortunately, there was a river called Narukawa along the retreat route. It was a small ditch with a maximum depth of only one or two meters in the middle. It happened to be Japan's rainy season, and the river was swollen. What was originally a ditch with a depth of about one meter suddenly became a river with a depth of three or four meters (the Yangtze River was only seven meters deep before liberation). Wouldn't that have been disastrous?

Fifteen thousand men went into battle; thousands drowned, and countless others perished in the stampede. They eventually retreated to Kyoto, where, upon taking stock of their forces, they found themselves utterly defeated.

More than four thousand people went in. The rest were still in shock, and almost all of their equipment was lost, including a thousand arquebuses.

What can Shichibei say? The Bessho and Hashiba soldiers were lying all over the ground, screaming in agony. Luckily, Shichibei didn't go to rescue Hideyoshi; if he had, we would probably have lost several hundred men as well.

Furthermore, the fact that Japanese military horses were not castrated remained uncommissioned until after the Meiji Restoration.

It's not that I don't want to, it's that I don't know how.

Yes, it's that simple.

In any case, Shichibei's Kawamura-ya horse-riding department didn't have this technique. It's unclear whether their ancestors didn't learn it from Daitou or if they did but it wasn't passed down. Shichibei had previously asked his family's old horse doctor, Nanbu Sunjiro, but the old man said he didn't know it.

If he doesn't know how, then no one else does. In Shichibei's memory, he had never seen his adoptive father castrate a stallion, but he had delivered foals for mares many times, to the point that Shichibei could even try to pull on him.

That Awaga Sadanori is quite a figure, actually managing to come up with such a method to disrupt Oda's army. A horse unsuitable for battle...

A mare costs no more than three or four strings of cash, and dozens of horses might only cost around a hundred strings of cash.

With just 100 kan, he crushed 15,000 cavalrymen under Niwa Nagahide. In terms of efficiency and cost-effectiveness, he was truly a top figure in Japan.

Japan's small territory should not be underestimated. After so many years of fighting, there are a few decent heroes in the region, but due to limited strength, they did not achieve much and have not been remembered by later generations.

“After this defeat, it will probably be difficult to gather troops to reinforce Himeji in the short term.” Todo Takatora helped gather the remaining troops. He was a direct retainer of Shichibei, and wherever Shichibei was, he was there too.

"I thought the situation would improve." In fact, the situation is already many times better than it was in history.

At this point in history, Hideyoshi was trapped with nowhere to go, whether by land or water, and was facing certain death. The other army commanders were also in a mess, each of them tied down. In the end, it was only Mitsuhide and Nobumori who led their troops around to put out fires and barely stabilize the situation.

"I'm afraid something might happen to Himeji." Todo Takatora had also worked in Himeji for a year and had a general understanding of the situation in Harima.

"Fujikichiro is no ordinary person either."

If we don't trust Hideyoshi now, who can we trust? Hideyoshi's military skills are still quite good. Although he's not a top-tier general, he has a good grasp of the situation. During the Battle of Shizugatake, he orchestrated the Mino Great Reversal, defeating Sakuma Morimasa.

“It’s mainly Eiga…” Todo Takatora felt that since Kobayakawa Takakage had a complete advantage on the waterways, he would definitely cause trouble.

If Hideyoshi cannot be pushed forward head-on, Kobayakawa Takakage will undoubtedly choose to launch a surprise attack from Higashi's rear by landing troops at Higashi. At that point, Hideyoshi will be caught in a pincer movement from the east and west, a truly dire situation. Not only will the people of Harima desert in droves rebel, but his own troops may also waver.

Once forced into Himeji Castle and forced to defend it, Hideyoshi was essentially a plucked pheasant. Aside from passively defending the castle, he could do almost nothing.

The worst thing you can do when defending a city is to hold out indefinitely, with no reinforcements from the outside and no way to help yourself from within. If you can neither cut off the enemy's supply lines nor tire out the enemy, the defenders inside the city will surely be wiped out.

If no reinforcements arrive from outside and the defending forces inside are unable to launch an attack, once the enemy has established a solid and complete siege, the city will be completely trapped.

Kill them, and the besieging enemy forces will no longer require several times or even ten times their number. Just enough troops to fill the siege fortifications will be left, and the rest of the army can retreat to rest or move on to other battlefields.

Shichibei and Todo Takatora were gathering the routed soldiers and discussing the battle situation. Nobunaga looked at his generals kneeling on the ground, perhaps because there were so many of them and it was too tiring to deal with them one by one, and simply stared at them with a cold face.

Is it reasonable for 15,000 people to be defeated by 1,000?

It sounds absurd, but countless times throughout history, enemy armies have been defeated through cunning and ingenious strategies. Most notably, Nobunaga himself led several hundred pagemen and his followers to storm Imagawa Yoshimoto's main camp and behead him.

With a mere three or four thousand men, they defeated Imagawa Yoshimoto's army of thirty thousand. How is this any different from Awakawa Sadanobu defeating Niwa Nagahide?

Moreover, cursing doesn't work now; the Bessho army suffered almost no losses. The turmoil at home, which had started due to Bessho Yoshichika's rebellion and the subsequent exile of Bessho Nagaharu, was quickly brought under control thanks to the miraculous victory.

Victory in war is indeed the best social stabilizer; as long as there are great victories, the vast majority of conflicts can be suppressed.

At least the unrest caused by Bessho Yoshichika's expulsion of his lord was quelled in a short time. If he could win the war and maintain the Bessho family's independence, allowing them to independently issue decrees within their territory, then everyone would certainly be willing to support Bessho Yoshichika.

This whole thing is practically helping Bessho Yoshichika.

Despite being a veteran, Niwa Nagahide, who carried the banner of Bessho Nagaharu, simply charged blindly into Higashiharima. He neither sent anyone to contact the local gentry nor tried to bribe the officers and soldiers beforehand; he just charged in and started fighting.

Relying on their superior numbers to overpower the weak, they acted recklessly, just like Oda Nobunaga when he first attacked Asakura Yoshikage.

You can never teach someone by just talking to them. You can teach someone by doing, and they'll learn it in one go.

Nobunaga slaughtered the Takeda clan in Kamo, leaving corpses strewn across the fields. He even summoned Kiso Yoshimasa, Yamagata Masamitsu, and others, asking them if they were willing to surrender and become collaborators. They only learned their lesson after Asakura Yoshikage cornered them at Kanesaki-Kimeshige and barely escaped with their lives.

Keep a close watch on the forces of Ishiyama Hongan-ji at Tennoji Castle. If they move, the 30,000 to 40,000 troops of Hongan-ji will immediately jump out and cause trouble. Compared to other forces, Hongan-ji's fighting spirit against Nobunaga is relatively resolute.

This is certainly related to the intention of Kennyo Shonin of Honganji Temple to expand his influence in the Kinai region and to replicate the success of the "Buddhist Kingdom on Earth" in Kaga, thus establishing another "Buddhist Kingdom on Earth" in the Kinai region. However, the fact that he was willing to go beyond Honganji Temple to fight is commendable in itself.

After Niwa Nagahide's defeat, Oda Nobunaga's only mobile force was Tokugawa Ieyasu's army.

You're asking about Yamagata Masamitsu and Takeda Nobufusa? More than half of the samurai in Kai were wiped out, and a small portion joined Kawamura Shichibei. The samurai in Suruga had been shaved several times and hadn't recovered to begin with; now, with Nobunaga's furious onslaught, they had no way to quickly form a reliable military group.

They need to be recuperated for at least another year or two before they can possibly lead troops into battle for Oda Nobunaga.

"How can Niwa Nagahide face his lord and father-in-law if he doesn't send out Shichibei..." He had no choice but to push Shichibei forward.

Although Kawamura's army only consisted of logistics units and was not actually responsible for prolonged combat, its numbers were truly sufficient. They didn't need to be forcibly recruited; a normal conscription would have yielded ten thousand cavalry.

Two people could be easily gathered from any random corner and organized into a complete military group. Moreover, the six thousand men who had followed Hideyoshi to Harima for a year had now been resting for two months.

Logically, the conscription shouldn't be so intensive for the siege of Miki. However, the Oda clan's forces are currently somewhat strained, and Ieyasu is essentially their general reserve. If any conflict breaks out, Ieyasu must be immediately mobilized and sent into battle.

Holding onto Ieyasu as a card in his hand, Nobunaga could always play a hand against any disturbance involving 20,000 or 30,000 men. But if he played Ieyasu, he'd truly have no cards left to play.

"Shichibei..." Nobunaga knew Shichibei's skill level very well; he was utterly incompetent, while his retainers were loyal, brave, and capable.

“It’s just a siege, and besides, Shichibei is very wealthy,” Niwa Nagahide immediately suggested, as he needed to turn the page on this chapter.

Admittedly, Shichibei was capable of handling the work of laying mortar and building fortifications. This was considered a very basic military task; how could someone who couldn't even build a fortress possibly survive? Shichibei had been responsible for constructing Nobunaga's main camp over the years, so he had plenty of experience.

Secondly, Shichibei is very wealthy, and money can be used to manipulate people. Those people who followed Bessho Yoshichika in his rebellion may not have been entirely committed to it. As long as the money is right, they might just be able to rejoin Bessho Nagaharu's ranks.

These can be considered Shichibei's two major advantages.

Tamagawa Sadanobu's tactics would only work once; at worst, all the samurai would dismount and fight. They would lead the stallions to the rear to guard them, preventing them from going into battle.

In a fair and square battle, what can Tamsui Teihan's thousand men do? At most, they can launch a surprise attack once, but if they fail, they will lose all their resources and have nothing left.

If you're not comfortable with Shichibei fighting alone, you can, as before, assign him a subordinate like Sassa Narimasa or Maeda Toshiie, who already has the ability to command thousands of men, as his vice-commander.

"Go and summon Shichibei." Nobunaga hesitated for a moment, then went to summon Shichibei.

Shichibei, who was dealing with the fleeing soldiers with Bessho Nagaharu and Hashiba Hidenaga, was inexplicably singled out by Nobunaga. It was truly baffling; Shichibei had absolutely nothing to do with this.

What do you want from me?

The messenger was Moribo-maru, Mori Ran-maru's younger brother, and also a member of Nobunaga's page group. They weren't very close, but they had met before. Due to the deaths of Mori Yoshinari, Mori Yoshinaka, and Mori Nagayoshi, the Mori family was transferred to Mino Province, including Kanayama, Naegi, and Iwamura, with a fiefdom of 70,000 koku. Because the territory was located deep within the Oda clan's territory, Mori Ran-maru did not actually assume the post, but instead entrusted it to his brother-in-law, Kagami Masamoto, for temporary management. The brothers were raised by Nobunaga.

Perhaps it was because of nostalgia, and also because Mori Ranmaru really suited Nobunaga's aesthetic.

Following Moribo-maru to the residence of the Right General, Shichibei watched as Hori Hidemasa, Inaba Ittetsu, Nagano Nobukatsu, and others left in quick succession. He swallowed hard. Had Nobunaga just finished his tirade and was now looking for someone else to vent his anger on?

I found a small puddle, looked at my reflection, and saw that I looked quite weathered. After all, I had just taken over the defeated troops from Bessho and Hashiba, and had been busy running around, working up a sweat. How could I not look weathered?

Upon entering the hall, Shichibei saw Nobunaga and Niwa Nagahide sitting together. Shichibei immediately sensed something amiss—not that they intended to harm him, but rather that his friend was about to trick him.

"My lord." Shichibei sat down in the hall and bowed to Nobunaga.

"Come closer, come closer."

"I don't know?"

"How about granting you an additional 50,000 koku of rice in Awaji Province?"

"ha? "

This short sentence stunned Shichibei, because before coming, Shichibei thought Nobunaga and Niwa Nagahide had nothing good to say. But after entering, Nobunaga's first words were to grant Awaji an additional 50,000 koku?

"If you can conquer Kishi and Wada, I will grant you an additional 100,000 koku of rice." Before Shichibei could react, Nobunaga continued to offer him daunting promises.

The northernmost part of Izumi Province, influenced by Ishiyama Hongan-ji Temple, was no longer Oda Nobunaga's territory. Sakai-cho in the middle was a so-called free city, directly under Nobunaga's control. The southern part, centered around Kishiwada Castle, was the former territory of the Matsuura clan, which had now defected to the Mori clan.

The southernmost point is the area where Sakuma Nobumori and Oda Nobuharu previously built Sano Fortress, which is now occupied by the Saiga party and is also not Oda territory.

To put it bluntly, it's all just empty promises. Awaji is now under the Mori family, and while Izumi isn't entirely Mori, he's not entirely Oda either. Either way, he'll have to lead his troops to fight, kill, and capture castles.

Speaking of which, Nobunaga has been promising Shichibei a reward of 100,000 koku for some time now. It's just that he hasn't had any territory to offer as a reward.

Now that the Ataka family is practically wiped out and the Kishiwada-Matsuura family has been usurped, their territories are vacant. Whether it's 50,000 koku in Awaji Province or 100,000 koku in Izumi Province, it's all at your disposal.

"I dare not accept such an offer without merit." Shichibei was confused; did this mean they had to attack Awaji and Izumi themselves?

"Hey! As long as you achieve fame and glory, what's wrong with that?" Nobunaga smiled at Shichibei, but it felt like more than just encouragement.

412. Beehive comes to the deputy legion

So what is the cost?

Who among us doesn't know whether Shichibei has the ability to achieve great deeds? I reckon Shichibei's tactical level is about the same as Moribo Maru, who is just over ten years old and is supporting Nobunaga's sword.

If you don't know, you just don't know. These days, warfare is all about strategic thinking and execution. Either you have a great father to guide you every day, or you're naturally gifted. Even if we wanted to learn on our own, we wouldn't have the connections.

To be honest, even if his father-in-law, Oda Nobuhiro, wanted to teach him, he could only teach by word of mouth and by example; he couldn't actually compile a book and provide a systematic teaching method. And even then, it would depend on whether Shichibei had the talent; without talent, even verbal instruction wouldn't be effective.

Throughout history, how many famous ministers and generals have had sons who were also famous ministers and generals?

"Whatever your lord's request is, please tell me clearly." Don't scare me, okay? We've been ruler and subject for so many years, why bother with this?

"How about I order you to attack Miki?" Nobunaga straightened up.

"Me?" Shichibei really wanted to point to his own face and ask Oda Nobunaga while awkwardly laughing.

"Why can't it be you?" Nobunaga actually asked Shichibei in return.

"I have only suffered defeats..." Shichibei swallowed hard and said.

That's right! It's true that Mikatagahara held the rearguard, and it's also true that Mikatagahara suffered a crushing defeat. When they won the battle, Shichibei was mainly cheering from the back. Other small-scale skirmishes didn't count as major battles.

How can it be called a major battle if it doesn't involve 50,000 to 80,000 people?

"Oh no!" Oda Nobunaga and Niwa Nagahide exclaimed in unison, thinking to themselves at the same time, "This kid's words are really unlucky."

But what can be done about such bad luck? Niwa Nagahide's actions have wiped out 15,000 men, with over 4,000 dead or missing. If not Shichibei, are they supposed to just take Tokugawa Ieyasu?

Even if Shichibei can't win the battle, as long as he can use his superior numbers to block Bessho Yoshichika from entering Miki Castle and establish communication with Hideyoshi, that will be enough.

"Alright then, Shibata Gonroku will be given to you..." Nobunaga waved his hand, finished making promises, and began to offer Shichibei some good things.

Shibata Gonroku is Shibata Nagakatsu, Shichibei's brother-in-law. He was originally Nobunaga's retainer, but was now promoted to lead the Shibata clan to serve Shichibei.

"In addition, my younger brother, Gengoro Nagamasa, who has succeeded to the Hirate clan, will also be given to you as a servant." Nobunaga's orders never stopped.

Gengoro Nagamasa was Oda Inudousai. Why was he able to succeed the Hirate clan? Because his principal wife was the daughter of Hirate Masahide, which complied with the succession law of the Sengoku period in Japan.

Originally, it was said that Shichibei would first support the three daughters of the Hirate brothers, in order to select a suitable son-in-law for the Hirate family. Now it seems that there is no one available at the moment, so they have no choice but to bring in Oda Inudousai.

It's a bit like grasping at straws in desperation, but there's no other way. Right now, we desperately need talented people, especially those with great potential. They'd either be assigned to Hidetada to build a great empire, or given to a few of his best sons to serve as stewards in various domains. Why would they use them to deal with the Hirate clan first? It's only because Shichibei's siege mission wasn't too difficult that they did this.

"Huh?" What did you stuff into my mouth?